HS2 budget ‘will balloon to £80bn’, says secret report

Tory backbenchers are mounting a new bid to cancel the high-speed rail projectHS2

The HS2 high-speed rail project is “highly likely” to go as much as 60% over budget and cost “more than £80bn”, according to a secret Cabinet Office report leaked to The Sunday Times.

The assessment, by the government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), describes the scheme as “fundamentally flawed” and in a “precarious position”.

It warns that the chaos in the project — officially costed at £56bn — threatens wider public spending, with a “very high opportunity-cost impact across other government departments”.

The report, classified “official-sensitive” and “not for publication”, attacks HS2 management for “lack of cohesion and common vision” and says the executive team has “no credible plan by which to gauge or manage progress”. It notes “destabilising” turnover of senior staff despite paying…

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